


It's All Downhill

by GreekLetter



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, How Do I Tag, I Tried, POV Second Person, Snow, Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:15:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25129900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreekLetter/pseuds/GreekLetter
Summary: Weiss and Winter decide to stay a long weekend stay at a ski resort in the mountains. But when they arrive, they quickly find out their room is double booked. When challenged by one of the other occupants, will the Schnee sisters rise to the challenge to keep their room? Or will they lose to complete strangers?A lovely little monochrome and elderburn fic I wrote as a bday gift for my friend DedicatedSeeker.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Weiss Schnee, Winter Schnee/Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 14
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DedicatedSeeker](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DedicatedSeeker/gifts).



** Chapter One **

"Yeah Ruby, they're already here. Checked in like less than an hour ago. I made sure they got the nicest room available. For the whole weekend, yeah."

The gentleman behind the check in counter of the resort hasn't stopped talking on his phone on what seems to be a personal call the entire time you've been standing at the counter with Winter.

"I can't believe this place just allows its employees to take personal calls in a customer facing area such as this. Seems.. unprofessional." You knew it would only be a matter of time before Winter decided to voice her concerns to the host behind the desk in front of you.

"Sorry ma'am, that's our resort manager, Mr. Arc. I believe he's on a call regarding a guest issue. I apologize for the inconvenience."

"Being here is already enough of an inconvenience for me, what's one more thing." Winter rolls her eyes so hard you're surprised they didn't fall out and roll away.

"It's three days of mandatory leave. It's basically a vacation. Just take it as a time for you to relax, and decompress." You try to be as supportive as possible, even though you also hadn't wanted to leave work and take a three day weekend.

"If it weren't mandatory and direct from General Ironwood, I wouldn't even be here."

"Yes. You made that incredibly clear the entire ride here." You grab your room key from the host and begin to pull your luggage behind you, leaving Winter a few paces to catch up.

You don't know why you even bothered to come on this trip. You knew Winter was just going to complain about not being at work the entire time. But then would complain when you tried to do work on your computer. This is how any vacation the two of you had taken within the last ten years had gone. Someone was always working. And someone always didn't want to be there. And sometimes, it was both.

So the entire journey from the resort front desk to your regal cabin, that's what happened. Winter complained about a vacation. You were over it already and you hadn't even made it through the first twelve hours yet.

"This is going to be a long three days." You mumble to yourself as you scan your keycard against the reader, flinging the door open in front of you.

The site that greets you on the other side of the door isn't at all what you had expected. What you had expected was a gorgeous glass front cabin, facing the mountain overlook. What did you get?

Two people, that weren't you or Winter, already looking comfortable in the shared living area of the cabin. Two people that shouldn't be there.

"Really? They told us this cabin was ready and it's not even cleaned yet? This place is run by idiots." Winter slams her bags down, clearly not pleased.

"Wow." One of the women with shorter black hair says as she stands up and wanders back into what you guess would be the kitchen.

"Hey guys, uh. No offense. But who are you exactly?" The taller blonde woman asks, standing up from her seat.

"Um, we are the people that have rented this room for the weekend. Maybe we are the ones who should be asking you that same question." Folding your arms across your chest, trying your best to remain assertive.

"Well, if we also hadn't rented this same room, how would we have gotten keys and gotten into this same room?" The other woman had returned, with a cup filled with some kind of hot drink. "They probably double booked it."

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." Winter lets out the most exaggerated groan as she pulls her phone from her pocket and begins dialing.

After about ten minutes, ten fully silent and awkward minutes, the gentleman from the front desk knocks on the door of the cabin. You let him in, mostly so he can declare the room yours and allow these other people to leave gracefully.

"So, I double and triple checked the system. There seems to have been an error and we double booked the room. Unfortunately, we don't have any other vacancies anywhere in the resort. Not a single room is available."

The four of you look between each other, seeing which group would be the first to give. No one budges.

"The resort cannot demand either booking be the one to leave, so it's something I will leave you to settle amongst yourselves." And with the swiftness of an olympic sprinter, he disappears.

"Well that's just great. This is positively ridiculous." Clearly Winter's mood hadn't improved at all.

"Positively ridiculous, ha." The black haired girl leans back against the wall.

"How exactly are we supposed to just decide who gets to stay and who has to go? This isn't any of our error and it's unfair that anyone be punished and sent away."

"Agreed." You look up, surprised by the dark haired girl's support.

"I have an idea. Why don't we just bet on it?" The blonde opens it up for discussion.

"What are the stakes?" Shocked that Winter would even consider leaving something like this up to chance, you stare at her wide eyed.

The blonde takes a few moments to deliberate with herself, moving her head from side to side like she's weighing decisions in her head.

"A good old fashioned arm wrestle sounds fair to me. You in?" She gestures to both you and Winter.

"I will be doing no such thing." Disgusted, you are honestly disgusted. What a brutish suggestion.

"Typical, Yang. And I will not be participating, as usual."

"Winter?" You can't help but notice her silence, and it unnerves you.

"I'm in."

"Heck yeah." The blonde, Yang, begins to roll up the sleeves of her jacket and prepare for battle.

"You can't be serious, Winter."

You catch the faint scent of lavender as the black haired girl crosses in front of you and takes a seat in one of the chairs facing opposite the couch.

"She looks pretty serious to me." She says as she raises one eyebrow before taking another sip from her cup.

"What are the terms?" Winter asks as she removes her jacket and takes her place across from Yang.

"Well I'm guessing that if you win, Blake and I pack up and go home."

"Fair enough."

"And if I win, we share."

"What?" Winter's voice is curt.

"Excuse me?" You can't believe this stranger has the audacity to suggest you share living space with them for an entire weekend.

"If I win, the two of you share the cabin with Blake and I for the weekend. It has five rooms and plenty of space for all of us. No reason someone has to leave."

Winter squints her eyes as she stares Yang down. It's the look she has when she's assessing all the odds. It would usually strike fear in her opponent, but this blonde seems completely unphased.

"Fine. I only have one other condition."

"And what is that?"

"We battle left handed. I stand no chance against an Atlesian prosthetic arm." She gestures towards Yang's right arm.

"Totally understandable, yet still inconsequential. Seeing as how I'll be winning regardless." Yang sits down, places her elbow to the table, holding her hand up for Winter to take.

Before she takes her place at the table, you walk over next to Winter and quietly express your discontent.

"You better not lose, because I don't want to spend my weekend with two complete strangers, one of which appears to be some kind of arm wrestling barbarian. And if you do lose, don't forget that this was your idea."

"Oh Weiss, have a little faith."

As it turns out, your lack of faith was accurately placed. Because Yang wiped the table with Winter. The "battle," if it could even be called such, lasted less than a minute.

"Why don't you guys take the rooms on the right side of the cabin and Blake and I will choose from the ones on the left? And then, if you ladies wanted, we can meet back here and have dinner? We should probably at least try to get to know each other a little since we will be spending the weekend here."

"Sounds fine to me. But I recommend room service. I have no intention of cooking on holiday." You say as you begin to pull your bag towards one of the open doors closest to you.

"Ah, the request of someone that can't cook." Blake says as she disappears down the hallway opposite from you. "I'm cool with that, see you all in an hour."

Much to your surprise, dinner actually turned out rather pleasant. It was awkward at first, but Yang seems like one of those people that would talk to a rock and have a good conversation. And Blake seemed like the chill and calm balance to Yang's over the top attitude. She was smart, incredibly well spoken. And very witty. She even managed to make you laugh a few times. Winter seemed to enjoy conversing with the other girls, which was a nice surprise considering she had been a stick in the mud up until then.

When Yang suggests that you all "take the party outside" and make s'mores on the patio bonfire, you are shocked when Winter jumps at the chance to help her set it up.

"Guess that leaves you and I to make the hot chocolate, huh?" Blake asks, motioning for you to follow her back into the kitchen.

You quietly follow Blake into the kitchen, where she has already started to make preparations. Trying to be of at least some help, you start searching the cabinets for mugs to use. Finally finding them on the highest shelf. Try as you might, even on tiptoes, you can't reach them.

"I hate to ask, but do you think you could give me a hand?"

"Did Yang teach you that joke?" Blake laughs to herself as she steps beside you and reaches up to grab four mugs from the cabinet. When she stretches, you can't help but notice the scar on her left side, as her shirt rides up.

And of course she catches you looking. God forbid you be smooth at anything.

"Sorry." You look away. Not sure if you're embarrassed for seeing her scar, or just because you got caught looking.

"No, it's fine. It's not exactly a beauty mark." She laughs nervously. After you fail to fill the silence, she continues. "Should I wait for you to ask? Or would you just like me to tell you about how I got it now?"

"Got what?" You say, dumbfounded look surely spread across your face.

"The scar I just totally caught you staring at."

"Oh, not if it's personal. I don't want to make you any more uncomfortable than I already have." You shake your head.

"It's fine." She waves her hand in dismissal. "It's not that big of a deal anyways. When Yang and I were younger, we were in an accident. On the way to school, something happened with the bus. And it was horrible, some people died. Yang lost her arm, and I got some metal from the bus.." She pokes at her side. "Ya know."

"That's terrible." Your mouth hangs open in shock.

"It wasn't great. But Yang got the worst of it. I was very lucky. But the two of us have been inseparable ever since." She shrugs her shoulders and you feel something sink down in your stomach. "Can you help me carry two of the cups? I only got two hands so I can't get all four of them."

"Oh of course, sorry." Quickly grabbing the remaining mugs, you follow Blake back outside.

"Look who's back! We were beginning to think the two of you ran off into the woods on us."

"Think it's fairly safe to say that Weiss and I probably wouldn't make it long in the woods."

"Weiss can barely make it grocery shopping by herself, much less in the wilderness." Winter laughs as Yang hands her a marshmallow on a stick.

"I only want-"

"Just the marshmallow. I know Blakey. Chill."

Yang roasts a single marshmallow and points it towards Blake once it's finished cooking.

"You know me so well." Blake gives a wide smile to Yang as she removes the lone marshmallow from the stick and eats it.

"I should. We've basically been together forever at this point." Yang says as she goes about her s'more making duties.

"What do you all have planned for tomorrow?"

"Well, Blake wants to go skiing but I have always wanted to go snowboarding."

"I love to snowboard." Winter says, and you look at her suspiciously.

"You do? Since when?"

"For a while now, you just never pay attention."

"What about you, Weiss? Skiing or snowboarding?" Blake asks as she eats another marshmallow.

"Skiing. I've always preferred skiing. It has a certain elegance to it that snowboarding does not."

"You and I should go then." Blake says.

"What?" Maybe you misheard her.

"Well, it seems like Yang and Winter want to snowboard while you and I would like to ski, so maybe we should split up. If that's cool with you guys?"

"Sounds like a plan to me, if you guys are up for it?" You highly doubt Winter would agree to this.

"Seems like the most efficient use of our time here, I'm in."

You cave and agree to spend the following day skiing with Blake. You aren't sure what is going on with Winter. The world must be tilting on some unknown axis or something.

Later that night, while you and Winter prepared for bed, you take advantage of the seclusion and try to get some answers.

"What is going on with you? This morning it was like pulling teeth to get you to leave Vale, and now you are agreeing to spend tomorrow with a near complete stranger."

"There is absolutely nothing going on with me. I was given a direct order from my commanding officer to spend the weekend relaxing, and I am doing just that. And quite frankly, I'm the one that should be asking you. It's obvious that you are interested in Blake."

"I am not! And even if I were, she's clearly in a committed relationship with Yang. They've 'been together forever.' And that is not something I'm looking to intervene in during a weekend vacation. Honestly, if I had anything to say about it, you're being way too friendly with Yang."

"I am doing nothing of the sort. See you in the morning, Weiss. Sleep well."

"Whatever. Goodnight, Winter."

As much as you hated to admit it, after hours of lying awake in bed, Winter may have been right. You had only known her for a few hours. But this complete stranger, this Blake whoever, was running circles through your mind and getting stuck in your thoughts. And the more you thought about her, the more disheartened you got. She seemed so amazing. So smart, so witty, so outstanding. Just when you thought you may have found someone of interest. It's someone that already has a someone.


	2. Chapter Two

** Chapter Two **

"Come on, your lesson is about to start. And we've wasted far too much time in the resort. And by we, I mean you."

You honestly can't decide whether or not you like how bossy Winter is. Having spent most of your leisure time with either Blake or Ruby, your view of hanging out with women was fairly skewed. Ruby was a hyperactive mess, just like you. And Blake was an intellectual bookworm. But Winter, she seemed more like the take charge and make demands kinda lady.

And you kinda like it. Not to mention she's basically smokin' hot. Which made her name an oxymoron, and you love a good joke.

"Don't be so uptight because I wanted to take my time deciding which board I wanted to use."

"I am not uptight."

"Yes you are." She huffs and continues talking.

"You wasted nearly fifteen minutes and made us run behind schedule because you couldn't decide on which color board you wanted to use."

"Are you mad because I picked the orange one instead of the yellow one?"

"Don't be ridiculous. I am mad because even after my knowledgeable recommendation, you still picked a board based solely upon color and not functionality."

"Aw, how cute, you're mad that I didn't pick the one you suggested."

"Am not!" She pushes back her shoulders and stands up as straight as possible. Probably a reflex caused by the military stick she's got stuck up her ass.

"Are too." You point your finger at her as you grab your snowboard and make your way to the check in counter for your lesson. Turning from Winter, you focus your attention to the man behind the counter. "What's up my dude? I'm here to check in for my snowboarding lesson."

"I'm fine. Thank you for asking. May I ask for the last name on the reservation?"

"Xiao Long." You glance to the side to see a very pouty looking Winter beside you.

"Okay, great. It looks like Sun is going to be your instructor today. You're going to love him. He's fun."

"Prolly not as fun as my friend Winter here is." You motion to the frigid woman beside you.

"Is that a joke?" Winter asks, no emotion whatsoever in her voice.

"It wouldn't be if you were actually fun, now would it?" You lift your board, following the directions the man behind the counter gave you to meet up with Sun. "Come on, let's go God forbid we be late." Something inside you feels joy from giving Winter grief.

After a few minutes, Sun meets up with the two of you at the bottom of the lift.

"Well hello there ladies, pleasure to meet both of you today. Looking fabulous in your snow pants." He gives you a nod and wink. Making you roll your eyes.

"Yeah yeah buddy, we are here to snowboard so lets get to it." You start off towards the lift.

"Nothing wrong with a woman that likes to take charge, I dig it." He says as he falls into place behind Winter.

"I know someone that kinda stuff might work on, but it won't work with me my dude." Quickly you hop up into your seat on the lift next to Winter. Who looks pissed.

"Alright. So, either of you ladies been snowboarding before?"

"Nope." You say, still fully confident.

"I've done this plenty of times." Winter says, smugness clear on her face as her line of sight surveys every inch of the area around the two of you.

"Whatcha looking for? The enemy?" You poke Winter in the shoulder.

"Oh, I don't need to look for that here. Wind swept and clueless is sitting right behind us." She tilts her head back towards the lift seat behind you and you turn and look to see Sun, waving like a fool.

"Eh. He's harmless. But like I said, that's why he's more of Blake's type. I'm not about that life." Hopping off the lift, you wait to the side for your instructor to follow suit.

"Alright ladies, let's head over here and I will give Yang some pointers before we take our first run down the mountain. How's that sound?"

"Sounds like a waste of time. Let's do this thing." Maybe you were a little overzealous.

"Um, first I kinda need to check and make sure your boots are properly strapped into the bindings. Or else your ride is gonna be a quick one." He leans down and double checks all the snaps on your boots and makes sure they are secure.

"You have to make sure that all of your equipment is steadfast or else it leaves room for error." Winter methodically checks over her own gear.

"Yang, it is Yang right?" Sun asks and you nod. "I will say, you definitely have the build for snowboarding. Strong legs. Nice." Rolling your eyes you let out and exasperated groan.

"Full offense my guy, but I could probably break your neck with my thighs. And like I said before, if you're looking to compliment someone to death, I got the girl for you. But my interests lie outside your scope of work."

Annoyed by his repeated attempts to gain your attention, you swivel your hips until you face downhill.

"What are you doing?" Sliding up beside you, Winter looks at you, expression somewhere between disappointed and confused.

"Um, snowboarding?" You say as you snap down your goggles and prepare to give this a go.

"Why would you even suggest such a thing to him? Why would you want this imbecile hitting on your girlfriend?" You aren't exactly sure why Winter is upset.

"I have no clue what you mean. I don't have a girlfriend." Then it dawns on you. "HA! You mean Blake?" You nearly double over in laughter.

"I don't even begin to understand what is so funny to you."

"Blake is my best friend. But she sure isn't my girlfriend. No way. That's hilarious."

"But you said last night that the two of you have been together forever."

"Yeah, we've been best friends since we were like.. twelve. I mean, I got drunk once in college and gave it a shot, but Blake was one hundred percent not about it. And I mean, Blake was clearly feeling some type of way about your sister." You shrug. "Any other questions for me?"

"Well, um, no. None at this time."

"Okay cool. Well I'll see you at the bottom."

And with that, you wiggled your hips until the board turned just enough for you to begin your decent down the mountain. You vaguely hear Sun and Winter yell out for you to stop. But that wasn't going to happen. You were committed. Committed to showing off in front of Winter. You were amazing. What could possibly go wrong?

After about fifty feet or so of picking up speed, you begin to realize exactly what could go wrong. You had to stop this train before it missed the station, so to speak. So you do what you can to turn the board using your front foot.

Wrong choice. Should've used the back foot. Next thing you see is the sky as you switch from snowboarding to tumbling down the mountain side. If you had to guess, you probably spun through about three or four complete rotations before face planting into the snow. Where you came to your halt.

Less than ten seconds pass before you hear Winter cursing under her breath as she grabs onto the back of your jacket and flips you over to face upwards.

"Are you alright? Do you think anything is broken? Can you hear me?" She reaches down and lifts the goggles from your face. The only thing you can do is laugh.

"I'm guessing my plan to impress you with my super amazing snowboarding skills was a bust huh?" You give her the widest and most cheesy grin you can.

"I was definitely a lot of things, impressed was not one, I'm afraid."

"Well that just sucks. Cuz you're super hot so that was my main objective. Can't believe I failed."

Winter blushes so hard that you think the heat from her cheeks might actually melt the snow around you.

"So um, the two of you alright? Because if you don't need me I can just-"

"Yeah, you can totally just leave. It's all good. I think I have a pretty solid instructor already. Right?" You sit up, looking to Winter for confirmation.

"Yes. Of course. Sorry. Your instruction is no longer necessary. Thank you." She stands up and extends a hand to you, which you gladly take, and pulls you up to a standing position.

"So you wanna try this again?" You raise an eyebrow, and point your thumb over to the ski lift.

"Alright, fine. But only if you listen to everything I say. No flippant boarding off down the hill on your own."

"I promise."

The two of you spend the next few hours snowboarding. Or more like you act as helpless as possible so that you can have any excuse to be as close to Winter as possible.

—

After the two of you decide to call it quits for the day, you decide it's definitely time to find something to eat. And you recall seeing signs for a restaurant inside the lodge at the resort. So the two of you walk over after returning your boarding gear.

Fortunately for you, there's a buffet. Unfortunately for Winter, there's a buffet.

You nearly forget that you've spent all day trying to woo the uptight Winter Schnee to the best of your abilities, as you pile food onto your plate and subsequently into your mouth.

Once you look up to see Winter staring at you from across the table, you casually begin to wipe the corners of your mouth with a napkin and sit up straighter in your chair. And you notice the plate of the woman opposite you is filled cleanly with the most healthy foods, and it is being eaten with all the proper utensils.

Did she literally just cut a grape with her knife before she ate it? This woman is next level. But something inside of you just loves every second of it. So you begin to mirror Winter's actions. Trying to pretend to be just as fancy and proper. But you fail miserably as a rogue grape shoots off your plate and rolls off under a nearby table.

When Winter begins to laugh at the scene in front of her, you can't help but feel like you've let yourself down. How could someone as classy as Winter Schnee want to give you the time of day? You were crazy to think you had a chance. She's probably embarrassed to eat with you.

"I'm sorry. Apparently I missed the day where they taught table manners." You set your fork down and rest your hands in your lap, defeated.

Much to your surprise, she just smiles and shakes her head.

"No, no. Don't be silly. I admire your fearlessness. On the mountain and here. I wish I could let loose and be more like you. The military has made me… more strict than I had noticed."

"Having rules and regulations isn't always such a bad thing." You wait a second before continuing. "Please don't ever tell Blake I said that. Not that she'd believe it."

"Maybe I should start relaxing and having more fun. It doesn't seem too terrible."

"I can help with that." You wiggle your eyebrows and Winter blushes again. And you grab the waiter's attention. "Hi, I saw a sign that said you guys have an ice cream sundae challenge here?"

"Yes ma'am. You have ten minutes to eat the entire sundae."

"Is there a prize?"

"There is a t-shirt prize, yes."

"Sounds cool. We'll do that."

"We will?" Winter looks nervous as she shifts in her chair. The waiter wanders off to put in the order.

"Oh heck yeah we will. Didn't you hear the guy? A free t-shirt. I mean, I would've done it without a prize, but hey, who doesn't love winning, right?"

"I do love winning." She says as the waiter returns with an enormous sundae, two spoons and a stop watch in hand.

"Alright, are you ladies ready?" He asks as the two of you nod, and he starts the timer.

Much to your surprise, Winter Schnee turned into an absolute animal. She destroyed that ice cream sundae. Easily keeping up with you.

When she raises her t-shirt over her head in total victory, you can't help but feel immensely proud.

"We did it." She says, so excited. Complete with chocolate syrup, sprinkles, caramel sauce and ice cream all over her face, clothes and hands.

And when you stand up to give her a congratulatory hug, Winter reaches out and grabs your face with her hands and kisses you. Right there in the restaurant.


	3. Chapter Three

** Chapter Three **

You don't think you've slept so poorly in quite some time. You can feel the stiffness in your joints. Your back is sore. There's a burning sensation in your eyes from lack of sleep.

But why did you get no sleep? You want to blame it on hearing Winter snoring in the room next to you, but you know that's not the truth. Knowing you need to have some coffee if you ever plan on being able to make it through the day, you roll out of your bed and collect everything you need to shower and get ready for the day.

"Sleep well?" Blake asks as she looks up from her breakfast and gives you a small smile.

"To be honest, no not really." Grabbing some coffee, you find a seat at the table with Blake. She is preoccupied with something on her phone. And you are still beating yourself up over letting your mind run circles around itself over someone that is already in a relationship.

She stands up, still reading something intently on her phone as she grabs a bowl and fills it and grabs some fruit and sits back down at the table with you. It surprises you when she slides it all over to you.

"Well, you won't make it very long on the slopes if you don't eat breakfast. So eat, and then we can go." She sets her phone back down on the table. "That is, if you still want to go."

The eye contact lasts just long enough to make the two of you uncomfortable, clearing your throat to break the silence.

"No, I mean yes, of course I still want to go." You shake your head. Mostly because you seem like an idiot.

"Okay good. I already called down to the front desk and they said that we have to go through a mandatory ski lesson before they will allow us to ski without an instructor with us. Though I told them it was totally unnecessary."

You can already feel your energy beginning to refill as you eat breakfast. Grateful, yet again to have Blake around. This was going to be a long day.

—

"This is completely unnecessary."

"I know, I told you it was unnecessary, but you don't have to be so…"

"So what?" You look sideways to Blake, who is sitting on the ski lift chair next to you as it makes its way up the mountain.

"I mean, he was just trying to be nice."

"Who? Him? You can't be serious." Rolling your eyes you turn to look forward.

"You two know that I can hear you right? So is that a no about the phone number?" The blue haired guy on the lift chair ahead of you turns to face you.

"It's a definite no." You hear Blake sigh.

Once the three of you finally make it through the quick little instruction lesson that this blue haired idiot, you mean Neptune, had to share the three of you prepare for your first run.

"Alright ladies, once this run is complete, I'll head back into the resort lodge." He turns back to face you. "Unless anyone would like me to stay. Or I can give you my contact info in case you need help at any time throughout your day?"

"Listen here, I don't need your pathetic attempts at getting my number. Which I won't be giving you, in case you haven't figured that out yet. Or your menial skiing assistance. So unless you actually plan on teaching us something about skiing we couldn't possibly already know, could you kindly just make your way to somewhere that isn't here?"

Honestly you were just over his efforts and had reached your last straw. You hadn't intended to be so brash. But you were displeased that his attention was focused solely upon you. It was a disservice to Blake, who may be in need of ski instruction, that she clearly wouldn't have gotten due to Neptune's distraction.

"Well alright then, I'm just gonna go ahead and take this first run, the two of you can hang out here and settle your differences if you want." Blake turns to Neptune and gives him a curt nod. "Would say it was lovely, but we both know that's not the case."

And Blake slides off, leaving you with Neptune. At the top of the slope.

"I-" But you hold up your hand to silence him.

"Don't. Just don't. I apologize for my blatant honesty, but I am wholly uninterested. But please, just go. Enjoy the rest of your day."

Your eyes never leave Blake as you watch her ski perfectly down the mountain. Her form was pristine. She was probably a better skier than yourself. Which just made you all the more agitated that Neptune's presence was required.

After a few more beats of silence, you hear Neptune begin to make his own way down the slope. You follow behind, once you know there's enough distance between the two of you. Safety first.

Once you get to the bottom of the run, Neptune quickly excuses himself and heads back into the lodge. You make your way back to the lift area, and you can hear Blake sliding her skis behind you.

"You know," she hops up onto the lift next to you, "he really wasn't that bad. He seemed like a fairly nice guy. And he likes to ski. So you have something in common with him."

"And I'm fairly sure that you can ski just as well, if not better than both Neptune and myself. So why were you so tolerant of his presence?" You can see what she's doing and you aren't really here for it.

"I know you're a Schnee and all, but you aren't the only family that takes skiing trips." She smirks at you. "And don't think you're going to weasel your way out of being rude to him without explaining yourself."

"I just wasn't interested." Looking away, you shrug.

"Oh come on." She nudges your shoulder. "Would it have killed you to have been slightly nicer?"

"I'm just not really interested in people like him, in any way, shape or form. That's all. Not much else to discuss. And he was being overly persistent. I didn't feel it was right to allow him to believe otherwise."

The two of you hop off the lift chair and Blake hangs back, and you can feel her eyes on you.

"Uh huh. So, you just weren't interested?"

"Is there a problem with that?"

"No. He just seemed like the kind of person you would be interested in. He was suave. And he just had a certain way about him. He spoke well. And he clearly was interested in worshipping the ground you skied on."

"Unfortunately for him, that's just not what I'm looking for." You nervously adjust your gloves.

"What are you, then?"

"Excuse me?" Not fully understanding her question.

"What is it that you're looking for?" The two of you begin to make your way towards the edge of the slope.

By this point, you're so frustrated by basically everything that you just begin to say way more than you should. And you can't stop it. Like turning on a faucet and having the handle break.

"As inopportune as it may be, I seem to only be interested in dark haired and semi mysterious women that have amazingly snarky senses of humor. But much to my dismay, said women seem to like to vacation with amazingly good looking and somewhat funny blonde girlfriends. So really, the answer to your question is unavailable. I'm obviously only interested in women that are unavailable." Blake adjusts the handle straps on her ski poles, looking down and purposely avoiding any eye contact with you.

"Uhh, if you think that I'm with Yang in any capacity other than us just being best friends, you are mistaken." The entire world goes silent and your heart stops beating.

"You mean, you aren't with Yang?" You may be in shock, because you aren't sure you can feel your legs.

"Nope. Definitely not. But, if we are being completely honest, I do have a type. And it definitely isn't Yang." She winks at you before pulling her ski goggles down over her eyes and taking off down the hill in front of you.

Completely blank. Your mind goes completely blank. Almost like there's a short in your nervous system. And the power went off in your brain. Eventually, you shake it off enough to follow Blake down the ski run. Borderline terrified to meet her at the bottom.

Blake plays the whole situation off, not mentioning anything that occurred before that last run. Suggesting that you all take a few more runs down the mountain before having lunch at the cafe inside the lodge. It overlooks the valley between the mountains, so you have no objection to having multiple views.

Deciding she can't continue to sit in awkward silence with you any longer, Blake makes a suggestion to break the ice.

"Would you be opposed to playing twenty questions with me?" She peers at you over the top of her menu.

"I am not opposed, though I haven't played in years."

"We don't have to stick to twenty, if there is a different number you prefer or we can just see how it goes, that's fine too. Would you like to go first? Or would you like me to?"

"Is that your first of your twenty questions? Or just a general question?" You smile at her. Trying to lighten the dampened mood that you had brought to the afternoon.

"I would like to think I'd ask something a little more interesting than that, but I could be wrong. You can go first."

"Where did you go to school?" Might as well start with something you could ask anyone.

"Beacon University." You nod. It was a fine academic institution. Had been one of your options. "Favorite flavor ice cream?"

"Mint chocolate chip." You squint your eyes. Why would she choose such a question?

"What did you study at Beacon?"

"Political science. And subsequently, law." Not at all what you thought she was going to say. "Do you eat pineapple on your pizza?"

"Occasionally yes. But it really depends on the other toppings. What do you do for a living?"

"I serve as legal counsel for the board of directors at a company focused in supporting community outreach programs. What's your favorite number?"

"Thirteen." Shaking your head at her seemingly trivial question. The waiter returns and the two of you order lunch. "How did you learn how to ski?"

"My father taught me when I was younger. We used to go on trips every winter when I was a kid. We still go for holidays every year. Favorite color?"

"Blue. What do you like most about your job?" She sits back in her seat, taking a second to respond.

"I like helping people. And my job allows me to do that." She takes a sip from her water and clears her throat. "I'm going to ask two questions this time."

"Okay."

"First, what kind of music do you like?"

"I prefer classical, for listening. But I like to sing sometimes so anything really."

"Why are you asking me questions like this is a job interview?"

"I am not!" You sit up straighter in your chair.

"Oh really? My educational background, my area of study. What I like about my current job. Sounds like an interview to me." She shrugs.

"I see your point. I just don't know what all to ask."

"Well, what would you like to know about me, Weiss Schnee?"

"Okay. Since you know I'm Weiss Schnee, and that my favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip, that I like pineapples on my pizza, my favorite number is thirteen and my favorite color is blue. And I know that you are…" You continue to stall, thinking of what to ask her. "I know that you are Blake, but that's it. So, who are you exactly, Blake….?"

"Belladonna. My name is Blake Belladonna."

"Belladonna, like Belladonna as in the Belladonnas that founded the most extensive and productive world wide global outreach program to help fund community development all around the world Belladonnas?"

"One and the same." She sighs, relaxing back in her seat. Giving you a smug smile.

You are so embarrassed. How could you not have recognized her? The Belladonnas are world renown for their charity and successes. How have you spent the entire weekend with Blake Belladonna and not realized it?

"I don't know what to say. I'm so embarrassed, mostly because I wasn't even thoughtful enough to ask your name, and also because I must seem so self absorbed to not even realize who you were in the first place." Hiding your face in your hands in shame.

"It's totally fine." You peek out from between your fingers to see Blake carrying on as though it were nothing. "I don't expect you to recognize me. I'm not some famous celebrity. And a name is just that. I try not to make it who I am, as weird as that sounds. I prefer what I've done to speak for me, not my name."

You wish you could be that lucky. You're pretty sure the first thing you saw at birth was the Schnee Company logo. It's all you've ever seen. All you've ever had to fight to make matter.

"I wish I had that option, or luxury. My name, or the symbol of it, has been blazoned upon everything I've seen since the day I was born." Not bothering to hide the disappointment from your voice any longer.

"Purple." The randomness shakes you from your bubble of thoughts.

"What?"

"My favorite color is purple. And you have made your name something much better to hear." The smile on her face makes your sadness fade. "You have done a lot of work to change what the Schnee name means, and you should be proud. It surely isn't easy work."

"Well I'm glad you approve of my efforts."

"You know what else I approve of?"

"Hm?"

"Pineapple on pizza. And mint chocolate chip ice cream."

—

When the two of you return to the cabin, you come to stand in the living room. Winter and Yang still hadn't returned even though it was fairly late. The two of you had ended up staying at the cafe for hours, eventually having to order dinner.

So when Blake stands there in front of you with her hands shoved deep in her jacket pockets, rocking back and forth on her heels, you don't know what to do. Neither one of you knowing what to say or do. Well, you knew what you wanted to do. You just had to actually do it.

"Okay, well, today was very fun. And I had a lovely day."

"I did as well." She smiles and you can feel the blush on your cheeks betraying you already.

"Um, okay. I guess goodnight. I will see you in the morning." Turning on your heels, you make your way to your room, not stopping until you have the door closed behind you. Back resting against the door.

"Uh.. okay." You hear Blake say, followed by the sound of her shoes on the hardwood flooring as she wanders off down the hallway towards her own room.

Slowly, you sink down to the ground and let out the heaviest sigh. You are such an idiot.


	4. Chapter Four

** Chapter Four **

The next morning, you find yourself sitting outside at the patio table, drinking some coffee when you hear the glass door slide open behind you.

"Hey, have you seen Yang this morning? Her room was empty when I walked past it this morning." Blake appears concerned.

"Um no, Winter wasn't in her room either. But she had clearly been there. It had been reorganized to her level of military cleanliness."

"Hmm." Blake hums as she takes a seat next to you and sips from her mug.

She quirks her head to the side as though she heard something. But doesn't move or say anything. She begins to cautiously look around the patio area and beyond into the open space leading up to the woods surrounding the cabin.

"Are you okay? You seem kind of… I don't know, anxious?"

"Duck!" Blake reaches over and grabs the arm of your chair and flips both it and you over, causing you to fall to the ground and sit under the table.

"What is wrong with you?" You yell just before you see a snowball fly through the air where you had just been sitting and slam harshly into the window behind you. "What the hell?!"

"How's your throwing arm?" Blake asks as she begins to gather up handfuls of snow and pack it into spheres.

"I mean, I don't throw things often. What is going on?" Another snowball hits the table above you.

"War. Help me turn the table over. Or else we are screwed." Quickly removing the two drinking glasses from the table, you slide back as Blake grabs the table and flips it on its side. It provides the two of you with shielding.

"You can't be serious. Winter would never participate in such a childish game." You stand up just in time to take a high velocity snowball to the chest. Courtesy of none other than Winter.

"Ha! I got her, Yang!" You hear Winter yell from behind the ledge of the patio rails.

"Good job!" You can hear the sound of their hands coming together in a high five as you hide back down behind the table next to Blake.

"I told you to duck, Schnee." Blake flashes a smile before grabbing one of her pre made snowballs and peaking around the corner of the table.

All within the blink of an eye, Blake bolts up and hums the snowball in her hand directly for Winter, hitting her in the neck. And you hear Winter yelp out from the cold, but are surprised to hear her begin to laugh immediately afterwards.

"Boom. Checkmate." Blake says to you as she settles back down next to you. "Now we just have to get Yang. You wanna try?" Holding a snowball out for you.

The four of you continue the great snowball war for nearly an hour. Eventually, you have to accept defeat. The two of you were honestly no match against someone with a robotic arm and a military strategist. But you fought hard.

Once Yang had settled down from her victory high, you all decided that it would be fun to head into the small town the resort was near and shop for the day.

The four of you begin the afternoon together. And you quickly notice how close Winter and Yang seem to have become since yesterday. There was some blatant hand touching and holding, and them leaning into each other.

Blake seems to notice as well, and seems a little down, but still makes conversation. She talks about her interest in checking out a few different shops she had read about in the brochure she got from the resort. And she asks you if you would be interested in any of them, handing you the pamphlet to look through.

Eventually, but not at all to your surprise, Winter and Yang break off from the group. Leaving the two of you to your own devices.

"They're prolly going to make out, or something much more extreme in an alleyway or a restaurant bathroom somewhere." Blake rolls her eyes as they round the corner, disappearing from your sight.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Yang told me that her day with Winter went extremely well yesterday." Blake shoves her hands in her jacket pockets. Continuing to walk down the sidewalk with you.

"Oh. Winter didn't say much. But I got the idea that they had a nice day."

"We had a nice day yesterday, right?" Her eyes widen slightly in hope when she asks.

All you can do is nod your head quickly.

As soon as you round the corner, you stop in front of an old bookstore.

"Oh, do you mind if we look in here?" Blake rushes inside before waiting for your answer.

You're thankful she didn't even bother to wait for your response. You don't know how many more opportunities you can mess up before you ruin everything. Clearly, Blake was on a mission to find something, because as soon as she made it inside the shop, she disappeared.

So you begin to stroll leisurely through the various aisles, looking at the different genres labeled on the shelves. But honestly, you were really just looking for Blake. You liked reading, but you didn't care about books today. You had to do something to try and make up for everything.

When you find Blake, she's sitting on the floor, her back against the opposing bookshelf, nose deep in some old book you can't read the title of. And you can't bring yourself to disturb her. Spinning on your heels, you make your way back down the aisles to actually browse the shelves on your own this time. Seems to be how you're destined to end up anyways, alone.

But like the truly uninteresting person that you are, you end up stopping in front of the magazines. Taking one of the current fashion magazines from the rack, you begin to peruse its contents.

"That dress is hideous." Blake's voice is so close to your ear that it scares you nearly to death, and you can't help but jump. She laughs and you can't even be mad.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. And sorry for just bursting in here and then disappearing. I was looking for something."

"Did you find it?" You ask, eye contact with Blake lingering a little too long while in such close proximity.

"Find what?"

"Whatever it is that you're looking for." She smirks at you before answering.

"Yeah. I think I have."

More awkward silence.

Blake taps her book against your shoulder as she walks by.

"Is there anything else here that you would like to look at, or would you like more time to admire the fashion models in that magazine?" You smile as you roll your eyes at her suggestion and place the magazine back where you found it.

As soon as Blake pays for her book and the two of you walk out into the cold mountain air, you figure now is just a good a time as any to try to explain yourself.

"Blake, I'm sorry." Well that wasn't how you planned on starting.

"What for?"

"I'm afraid that I've ruined your weekend. I've acted weird. And I'm sorry for not, I don't know exactly." She remains quiet, knowing you have more to say. "At first I just thought you were so amazing. But then I thought you were with Yang, so I was completely bummed. Because, of course I would like someone that is completely unavailable. And then you said that you weren't with Yang and I thought 'well thank God now I stand a chance' but then I acted like a total dolt all day. And now here we are, spending yet another potentially perfect day together and I'm still acting like an absolute idiot."

"You are not an idiot. I have thought a lot of things about you, Weiss Schnee, over the last two days. And idiot is definitely not one of them." Your face feels like it's on fire. Probably from the cold wind. Maybe.

"What exactly is it about me that you think about?"

"Many things, some wholesome, some not." She shrugs and smiles, making you laugh. "But right now I'm really just thinking about kissing you." Clearing your throat before you say another word.

"I wouldn't be opposed if you did." Blake takes a step forward, closing the gap between you.

"Is that so?"

"Very much so."

When she presses her lips to yours, she tastes a little like tea. You don't really like tea, but today you won't be complaining.

—

Later that night, when it's time for the two of you to return back to the cabin, Blake struggles as she tries to fish the room key from her pocket.

"Sorry, I know it's in one of my pockets." She makes a cute scrunchy face as she rummages. "Aha!" Finally removing her hand, clasping the key card.

She swipes the card against the reader and unlocks the door, and begins to push it open.

"Oh my God!" Blake yells out, slamming the door back shut.

"OCCUPIED!" Is all that you hear from behind the now closed door. Clearly Yang's voice.

Blake turns around and puts her back against the door. Eyes wide and dead empty with shock.

"I don't think I'll ever be able to unsee what it was that I just saw. It's burned into my retinas for eternity."

"Was it really that bad?" Curious, really you're curious.

"For me, yes. But it looks like it's going pretty well for your sister." She tilts her head to the side gesturing back behind her.

"Okay. That's enough for me. Let's go." You grab her hand and start walking back towards the resort.

"Where are we going?"

"To the front desk to see if they have another room available yet."

"What about me?" Blake asks, noticeably worried she will have to return to the cabin.

"I thought it was mutually understood that you and I would be sharing a bed this evening." You raise an eyebrow as you hand the person at the front desk your credit card.

"I maybe have underestimated myself." You turn around questioningly looking at Blake as you open the new room door.

"What do you mean, yourself?"

"Turns out that I'm going to like you a lot more than I anticipated."

"How unfortunate."

That's the last thing you say as the door clicks shut behind Blake.


End file.
